Meet the Family
by Thunderscourge
Summary: (Soarin/Rainbow Dash) Rainbow Dash has a brilliant idea: since she hasn't seen her parents in awhile, why not bring her new boyfriend with her to visit them? Unfortunately for Soarin, this means meeting her father and mother (Firefly). Will the Wonderbolt survive the visit? Will I ever learn how to do comedy? There is a single yes and a no between these two important questions.
1. Meet the Parents

"So, uhm...remind me why we're doing this again?"

Standing before a regal, yet functional in size, Cloudsdale home were two blue Pegasi. One, the smaller of the two, was standing with a smile as she observed the delightful architecture of the house, its pillars reminding her of those found in her own residence.

The other, however, bit his lip and quivered as he looked at the front door of it. His pale blue coat reflected the fear he had inside him well, matching the color one would associate to someone who had just encountered a ghost. His dress shirt adorned with medals of valor did little to ease his fears as the mare beside him replied.

"Because I haven't seen my family in like, foreverl Come on Soarin, I didn't think you were such a scaredy-pony."

The stallion swallowed his breath and looked to the cloud beneath him, unable to look the mare in the eye, "But why do I even need to be here? Couldn't you...well, visit them by yourself, Dashie?"

Rainbow Dash's response was fakely sweet as she rubbed a hoof against his back, "Because I asked you to?"

Soarin continued to look down, feeling his face begin to blush, "But this...the whole meeting the parents thing...I don't really feel comfortable-"

A loud laugh cut the stallion off, Rainbow withdrawing her hoof to her chest so she could chortle, "What, is the big, bad Soarin of the Wonderbolts afraid of two old ponies?"

"And if I say yes..."

"Then I'll laugh, like this," sure enough the Rainbow haired mare gave another laugh and pointed a hoof at Soarin, causing the blush on her partner's face to shift from one of endearment to one of embarrassment.

Soarin grunted and frowned, his stomach doing backflips as he spoke, "Very mature, Dash. I'm freaking out here already!"

Rainbow stopped her laughing and leant on Soarin, wrapping a hoof around one of his as she gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't worry, I'm sure my dad will like you a lot," she paused and looked up at the sky, "Apart from the whole thing about you being my coltfriend. He'll hate that. I would watch out for my wings if I were you."

The Wonderbolt of the duo rolled his eyes, "Gee, thanks. That helps my nerves a lot."

In an attempt to make it up to her beleaguered coltfriend, Dash gave him a peck on the cheek, "I'm just messing with ya. Now, are you ready or are you going to need a change of pants?"

"I'm not wearing pants?" Soarin questioned, not understanding her reference to the uncommon item.

Rainbow was the one to roll her eyes this time, "It's a figure of speech."

Soarin did not recall said figure of speech, but decided to go with it anyways, "Oh, yeah, right. My bad."

Rainbow nudged the stallion in the ribs and nodded towards the door before them, "Come on, I'm sure they'll love you. I mean, there has to be something good about you for me to bring you home to my parents."

Soarin took in a deep breath and shook his head, almost sure that he was going to die in the coming hours, "Alright then...I'm only doing this for you, Dash."

"Thanks, Soarin," Dash gave him a light punch to the gut and jumped forward with her wings, "Now come on, no use standing around out here!"

Soarin chuckled at her antics before following behind her, nervously approaching the door that Rainbow was at the moment knocking on with one hoof.

A mare's voice that Soarin did not recognize rang out from the house, sounding distant as if it was across the building, "Who is it?"

As Soarin caught up to his marefriend and stood beside her, said marefriend chuckled and called back to the mare inside, "I don't know, maybe you should come see?"

Soarin could almost hear something crash and something else fall over before the door swung open and nearly clocked him in the face. A pink pony with a blue mane dashed right into the rainbow maned one, wrapping their front hooves around them tightly, "Rainbow! It'a been such a long time! How have you been?"

Rainbow Dash returned the gesture, blushing slightly out of embarrassment, "Pretty good, mom. Not only am I on my way to become a Wonderbolt," Rainbow turned to Soarin and gave him a coy smile, "I've got somepony to show you."

Soarin brought a hoof behind his head and rubbed his mane nervously, "Hello, ma'am, my name is-"

The pink coated middle-age mare cut the stallion off just like her daughter was prone to, "Soarin. I'm Firefly. I recognize the stallion who my little Dashie has had posters of for years."

Dash's face blushed as red as her the red parts of her mane, "Moooom!"

Her mother shrugged as she let go of her daughter and faced Soarin, "You can't deny it's true, Dashie," glancing at the dress shirt Soarin was wearing, Firefly nodded briefly, "So, I take it you're one of her instructors? Did Dash screw up and get herself kicked out of the academy?"

Rainbow shot her mother daggers as Soarin shook his head no frantically, "No, it's nothing like that at all actually. Captain Spitfire is taking care of Dash and the other recruits, while I'm in charge of the air shows for now."

Rainbow recovered from her death glare towards her mother and smirked, nudging Soarin's side, "It's pretty good that Soarin here isn't one of my bosses though. It would make dating him a lot weirder."

Firefly blinked, her eyes facing Soarin but not focusing on him as she responded flatly, "Come again."

"I said-"

Firefly stuffed a hood in Rainbow's mouth, "I heard what you said," letting out a small giggle, Firefly turned to her daughter and wrapped her in another hug to the younger mare's discomfort, "Oh Dashie, I'm so happy for you! Wait until your father hears that his little girl finally has gotten a young colt!"

Rainbow grunted and rolled her eyes, "Moooom, please."

Firefly released her daughter and took a step towards the house's open door, leaning her head towards it, "Come on in you two! We've got so much to talk about!"

The pink mare led the way inside, with Rainbow following right in behind her. Soarin took in a breath and forced his hooves to move forward one at a time, one in front of the other.

Soarin followed the two mares down a hallway in silence while the oldest among them prattled on about something to Rainbow, "You know, your father was really beginning to think that you were never going to get a coltfriend, not to mention your wicked aunt, who thinks disgustedly that because of your hair, tomboyish ways and tendency to hang around girls that you prefer an alternative lifestyle. Boo on her though for being so shallow. You're just like me, and no-one ever seemed to go around and think those things about me for some reason."

The hallway ended in a large room, with lavish furniture strewn throughout it. Soarin noticed that just like in the hallway before it, pictures hung off the walls with noticeable rainbow manes in them, but he hadn't had enough time to study any of them in any more depth.

Rainbow's mother stopped once the three had all entered the room, not noticing Soarin trip over a lifting weight that lay carelessly on the floor, "So, make yourselves at home. I'll go grab my husband."

The pink mare left in a spirited manner, a large smile apparant on her face as she did so. Soarin rubbed his head from his collision with the ground and stood up awkwardly while she left. He could see more exercise equipment inside the otherwise clean room, most noticeably tucked away under furniture.

Soarin glanced around the room and noticed a couch, but wasn't sure if he should sit since he would have to greet Rainbow's father. He shifted nervously in place as Rainbow looked around the room with a nostalgic look on her face, "Your mom seems...nice."

Rainbow nodded to him and grinned, "You bet! She's where I got my awesome personality from, so of course she's one hundred percent awesome," she ended with a hoof pointing to her own chest, making her coltfriend chuckle.

"Ever the humble pony. So, what do you get from your dad then?"

Rainbow rose the hoof from her chest to her chin, thinking momentarily, "My colors and not much else. He's nice, but he's a pretty serious guy. Comes with working as one of the bosses at the weather factory."

Soarin's mouth formed an O, "He must be a hard worker to have a job like that!" the Wonderbolt snickered as he thought about Rainbow again, "You sure didn't get that from him."

Rainbow jabbed a hoof at her coltfriend and scowled, "Hey, I work hard when I want to!"

Soarin lowered her hoof and gave her a warm smile to calm her down, "I know, Dash. You're the greatest and definitely the best pony I know."

While accustomed and fond of praise, Rainbow still felt giddy when it came from her idol and coltfriend. The result of this was a lack of eye contact and a small blush, "You sound like Scootaloo."

Soarin ruffled his brow, not getting the reference, "Who?"

"Only the best filly in the world, and my number one fan! You should get to kno-"

A level but seemingly pleased voice cut her off, "Rainbow, it's good to see you."

Rainbow glanced towards the hallway to see that her father was standing in the doorway, his azure coat and rainbow hair not all that different from her own. The young flier dashed over to him and embraced him in a strong hug, "Hey dad!"

Her father wrapped one hoof around her as well before looking past her at the other visitor, "Soarin the Wonderbolt. Welcome."

Soarin gave as large a smile as he could, his nervousness increasing every second, "Thank you, um, sir."

Rainbow released her father from her glomp and moved back towards Soarin a bit, "Awesome, you already know Soarin then. He's my coltfriend now, so I thought it would be cool to bring him to meet you guys!"

Her father didn't even blink as he stares at Soarin, the stern face having made Soarin wonder why he didn't bolt out the door, "I see."

Firefly, sneaking in the room from behind her husband, tried to diffuse the situation before it starts, "How about we all sit down and have some crackers?"

Rainbow gave a nervous chuckle as she looked at her father's unflinching gaze towards Soarin, the older Stallion studying the younger one intensely, "That would be nice, mom. Thanks!"

Firefly turns to leave again, giving a scoff, "I'll be right back. If you didn't have a guest I would make you get them, Dashie."

"Hehe," Rainbow laughed nervously, noticing that no matter how much Soarin smiled at her father the older stallion did not stop staring at him silently, "So, Dad, what's up?"

The stare that had frozen Soarin in his place ended as the azure pony turned to face his daughter, "Not very much. Everything has been going well at the weather factory. I'm glad to see you. I wasn't expecting you to visit anytime soon."

The younger rainbow haired pony scrunched her face up in confusion, "Wait, you didn't get my mail?"

Her father shook his head no, his voice remaining even toned as he did so, "No. However, I did receive a lunchbox in the mail the other day with a muffin in it. A mix up perhaps?"

Rainbow sighed and shook her head, a certain grey mailmare with eye problems coming to mind, "I _do_ know what went wrong. Ugh, nevermind."

With a look back at Soarin, Rainbow's father gave the Wonderbolt a very minute smile, "Relax son, I'm not going to kill you."

Soarin let out a large breath, feeling much more relaxed with that guarantee, "That's a relief-"

The follow up from Rainbow's father took the wind out of the stallion, "Yet."

Soarin's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he began to cringe in the spot he stood. Rainbow took it as a fun joke though and laughed, wrapping a hoof around Soarin while giggling, "Aww he's just kidding Soarin. Right dad?"

Silence was the only answer she received, her father looking at Soarin without any expression visible on his own face.

Soarin promptly felt his stomach drop.

For his sake, the re-rentry of a pink mare in the room holding a tray of crackers broke the tension. Firefly placed them down on a nearby table and turned to face the group, "There we go. So, first thing's first, I want to hear how you two kids met!"

Once again embarrassed by her mother, Rainbow decided to look at the petrified Soarin instead of the loving mother before her, "Well, Soarin and I met awhile ago at the flying competition I won. He was one of the Wonderbolts attending it."

Her mother nodded to her, "I remember that. Still mad you didn't invite us, Dashie. That's when you did your second Sonic Rainboom, am I right?"

"Yup!" Dash laughed for a moment before saying to herself, "Hehe, that was awesome."

Soarin decided to break his own silence and try to speak, "I wasn't awake for it sadly, but she also saved my life during the competition. One of the contestants was falling to their death, and when I tried to help them along with some other Wonderbolts...well, the pony knocked me out by accident and I fell too. Rainbow here caught us all."

Firefly looked over to her husband and nudged him a little, who was still looking at Soarin as seriously as a gargoyle's watch, "I wish we had a meeting as climactic as that, dear."

His response was a slight shrug and a glance towards Rainbow, "Things worked out in the end."

Firefly looked to Rainbow as well, the big smile on her face demonstrating her positive mood, "That they did," now focusing on the last one to tell the story, Firefly asked, "So, what happened when you woke up?"

"I wasn't out for long, so when I woke up I hung out with Dash and got to know her," Soarin grinned at Rainbow, "She seemed pretty cool, even if she had a bit of an ego for such a young flier."

Her father nodded to this last statement, "We've noticed."

"Hey, I earn every last bit of my ego!" came Rainbow's indignant voice in response.

Wanting to avert any arguments, Firefly took it upon herself to get things back on track, "So that was awhile ago. I take it you didn't get together back then."

Rainbow gave a shake of her head, "Nope, that's pretty recent. The next time I got to see Soarin was at the Grand Galloping Gala, where I proceeded to save a pie he wanted to eat from falling on the ground."

Soarin blushed at the memory, remembering it fondly because it contained his two favorite things: pie and Rainbow Dash, "At that point she had saved my life and my favorite food, so she started to kind of be interesting in my eye. Sadly I was so busy with the press that I didn't get to hang out with her more that night."

"We got to do plenty of that at the Royal Wedding though!" Rainbow chimed in.

Her father rose a brow, perplexed by her statement, "You two attended the Royal Wedding? When Canterlot was attacked?"

"Yup! My friend Twilight is the sister of the groom, so I got to come be a bridesmaid. Surprisingly not as girly as it sounds, since I got to do a Sonic Rainboom to celebrate the event."

Firefly patted her daughter on the shoulder, "That's my girl. Again, I'm mad you didn't tell us about it, but oh well."

Soarin thought that as long as they kept talking, the less he would be glared at, so he went on doing just that, "After the wedding, Rainbow and I got to hang out again and dance at the party. I didn't know how to dance, and neither did she, but we managed to have fun," He lifted a hoof behind his head nervously, "It's kind of when I started to have a crush on her."

Rainbow smirked at Soarin, a small blush rising on her cheeks, "I had been your fangirl for years, so all it did for me was confirm that the amazing Wonderbolt named Soarin was indeed one awesome pony."

Now it was Soarin who blushed, "We finally got together when she joined the Wonderbolt Academy. Basically I was doing some practice, she was doing some practice, we saw eachother, and hit it off again. I..."

Soarin's voice trailed off as he tried to find a way to say just what happened. Luckily for him, Rainbow did so for him in an amused tone, "This goof asked me out on a date when he accidently said his thoughts out loud. I said yes, and it went well, so here we are!"

Firefly flitted over inbetween the new couple and wrapped a hoof around each of them, "That's so sweet, Dashie. I'm so happy for you two!"

Her father simply shrugged, "One does not simply do better than dating a Wonderbolt, so I suppose I should be happy for you as well."

"Gee, thanks dad," Rainbow sardonically replied along with a roll of the eyes, taking note of his lack of enthusiasm.

Rainbow's father looked back to Soarin again, making the Wonderbolt bite his lip in fear once more. Firefly picked up on the vibe that nothing she could do could stop the two boys from having a talk, so she decided to at least get it over with. She let go of Soarin and started to nudge Rainbow towards the door.

"Rainbow, how about we go get our family picture albums to show your special somepony?"

Rainbow initially didn't budge, confused why she should go too, "Why-?" the pieces soon clicked in her head though, and she followed her mother to the exit, "Oh, okay. Be back in a minute Soarin!" then, she added in a whisper to him, "Good luck."

Rainbow's father did not react to the departure at all, still focused on Soarin. Now alone with the elder stallion, and the silence feeling uncomfortable, Soarin decided to make small talk, "So, sir, what should I call you?"

"Sir is fine," came the deadpan reply.

More staring.

"Well okay then."

More silence. It was beginning to make Soarin crawl out of his skin. Did the stallion like him? Dislike him? He couldn't tell, because he wasn't talking. Just looking.

This time it was the father who broke the silence, "So, Soarin. I'm curious about what a stallion older than Dash is thinking when he dates her. Care to elaborate on why you like my daughter?"

Soarin's mouth hung open for a moment as he tried to gather what he should say. Luckily for him, he had prepared for this kind of question and gave a half-rehearsed response, "Well, sir, Dash is one of the most kind, loyal, friendly, fun-loving, and dedicated ponies I know, and I respect her and her dreams because only a _couple_ years ago I was in her hooves."

Giving an affirmitive and approving nod, Rainbow's father added his own two bits, "Your forgot to mention her ego in all of that. I applaud you for being able to stand it. It's half the reason I..._suggested_ she go have her own place to live. It takes enough energy to deal with her mother."

Soarin got the feeling that he was on the approval side of things, so he gave a confident grin as he chuckled, "Is she that bad?"

Rainbow's father nodded stolidly, "She is a carbon copy of my daughter, only a bit older and thus wiser. Rainbow is still young and brash."

"Sounds like we've both got a couple of diificult mares," Soarin noted with a chuckle.

The immediate response was the elder stallion narrowing his eyes seriously at the Wonderbolt, as if he had taken offense, "Hey, that's my wife and daughter you're talking about."

Soarin instantly resumed cringing position 597 and bit his lip, "I mean no disrespect, sir!"

The eyes of Rainbow's father went back to normal, and a small grin grew on his face, "I never said you were wrong."

Realizing that he had been had, Soarin chuckled, "You know, you're a pretty funny guy, sir."

"Back to Rainbow, she is a sweet girl and means everything to me," the eyes resumed their serious look, "Do not hurt her. She may be tough on the outside, but she really is sensitive on the inside even if she won't admit it. If I hear at any point that you-"

Soarin, in an act of bravery, cut the stallion off with a similarly serious tone, "Sir, I would never hurt Rainbow, and I will always return the loyalty and love she shows me."

Partially caught off guard, the elder pony just gave a gruff nod, "Good. I had a feeling you wouldn't be some deadbeat. Now, how about we go see what the girls are up to, Son?"

Soarin nodded back to him, a smile growing upon his face, "Sounds like a good idea, sir."

* * *

Upon entering the room where the two mares had gone to, Soarin was instantly hugged by his marefriend as her mother gave a laugh.

"Ah, good, he's breathing," Firefly noted with a grin.

Soarin wrapped a hoof around Rainbow and looked around the room, seeing that it was a study of sorts, "What are you guys up to?"

Firefly lifted up a book off the table she and Dash had been using moments before and showed it to the visitor, "Looking through Dashie's embarassing baby pictures, of course."

Rainbow dashed off of Soarin and tried grabbing the book from her mother, but the pink mare managed to sidestep her. Rainbow crashed into the wall and groaned as her mother brought the book over to Soarin, "Mooom!"

"What? You were a cute baby."

Soarin ignored the book and flew over to Dash, putting a hoof on her back and rubbing it, "She's still cute, in my opinion."

Dash crossed her front hooves and scowled, her head hurting from her collision, "Thanks a lot, Soarin."

Her father then decided to chip in, "She is still a bit of a baby it seems."

Dash took to the air, floating in the room and pointing a hoof at her father, "Hey! What is this? Everypony's turning against me!"

Taking something off of the table she had been using, Firefly walked over to Soarin and wrapped a hoof around the Wonderbolt, "Calm down Dashie. You're our little girl. It'll be hard to _kick_ our parental instincts that cause us to embarrass you."

Dash's father followed suit, grabbing something off the table and wrapping a hoof around Soarin, to the latter's confusion and slight discomfort, "At least we aren't blowing you _kisses_ or anything else along those lines, Dashie."

Rainbow groaned and placed a hoof on her head. This was going to be a _long_ visit.

* * *

On the way out after a delightful visit, Soarin gave Rainbow a big smile, "That went better than I expected," he lfited his wings up and laughed, "I still even have all my feathers."

Closing the front door behind them, Rainbow began to respond, "Yeah, I'm pretty surprised-" her eyes caught something on Soarin's back and she smirked, "Wait just a sec."

Soarin tilted his head, "What's-?" a quick kick to the gut caught him off guard and knocked the wind out of him, knocking him off of his feet. After a moment he caught his breath and yelled, "Hey, what was that for?!"

Rainbow shrugged, pointing to his back, "You were asking for it."

Soarin looked towards where she was pointing and poked a hoof there, coming back with a pair of sticky notes on his hoof, "Asking for it h-?"

Rainbow, having read both of them, leant in to her coltfriend and kissed him on the lips, "You were asking for that too. Thanks for coming with me to visit my family."

Soarin looked down at his hoof and read the 'Kick me' and 'Kiss me' notes that had been left on his back, "It...it was my pleasure. Please don't make me do it again."

"It wasn't _that_ bad, was it? I thought my parents were pretty cool!"

"They're just fine, but I thought I was going to have a heart attack every moment! I didn't want to say something wrong or stupid, and every moment felt like it was in slow motion."

Rainbow helped Soarin up and gave him a brief hug, "Well, thanks again. I promise that we can wait a week or two before visiting again."

Soarin's eyes became the size of plates and Rainbow laughed, patting the poor stallion on the back, "Just pulling your leg. You're great, Soarin."

"You're pretty great yourself, Dashie," Soarin gave a sigh before leaning forward and nuzzling his face against Rainbow's, "I love you."

Rainbow looked around for a moment and, when she was sure no-one was looking, returned the gesture, "I love you too, goof."

* * *

Unbeknown to Rainbow, her parents were looking out of one of their second story windows down at the couple and the clouds beneath them all. Seeing the couple's antics made Firefly grin before leaning on her own special somepony.

"So, do you like him?"

"He's okay," came the succinct reply.

"You were the one that put the 'Kiss me' note on him for Dash to find. So you going to stick with only 'okay'?"

"Yup. Maybe okay-er than most, but only okay."

"I'm going to take that as you can't stand to see your baby girl all grown up and dating boys, but are also so happy and proud at the same time."

"No comment."

* * *

_A/N: Okay, this idea spun from a variety of things. First off, the story was inspired by an image made by Rebron-Y on Deviantart, so special thanks to them for making it. And for their other SoarinDash pics. Seriously, they have a lot, and it's awesome._

_Secondly, why is it so hard to find a lighthearted story about Soarin and Rainbow Dash without any dark overtones, jarring curses, or other disheartening material? I mean, I've found a few, but even that list narrows down when I add the item "has used spell check". I just want to be able to read a SoarinDash fic without having to deal with extremely OOC main characters, unnecessary swearing, drama, death...(uses Cadance's breathing technique to calm down)_

_Anyways, this fic is a result of the above. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I would love to hear from you all about what you thought, so please leave your thoughts in a review below!_

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	2. Meet the Scootaloo

_A/N: And four entire months later, I return! What am I, Rorshach in Equestria? Nah, that would mean I put a ton of effort into this. No no no, this is just for fun's sake purely. Literally this chapter is a birthday gift, like the last one, but only this time it is to me for my 18th birthday. Sure could use something fun like this for the news I've been getting the past few days..._

_Anyways, my birthday was this past Tuesday so I got the idea for this next installment in the "Meet the..." series after I went and saw Pacific Rim with my mother who bought me more Kaiju films than candy when I was a kid. Now, I normally thank all the people who commented on a story's last chapter, but there are 253 comments as of this moment and that'd be a tough feat. Provided half of them are me responding, but hey, I'll just say thanks to everyone who enjoyed "Meet the Parents"!_

_Without further adieu, Meet the Scootaloo everyone!_

* * *

It was date day. Tuesday specifically. Soarin managed to have enough free time to spend the whole afternoon and the early night with his marefriend, Rainbow Dash, every week since they became special someponies.

So, Soarin fully expected this Tuesday to go like all the others when he arrived at Rainbow Dash's cloud home with a bouquet of flowers in hoof. A push on the door revealed that it was locked, something unusual for a Tuesday. After all, Dash was expecting him, and she wasn't into the whole sweet knocking on the door, greeting one another, embracing, being invited in, kind of thing.

She expected him to just come in and make himself at home. But that's why Soarin was caught off guard when the door was not to be opened by a simple push.

"Dash, you home?" the confused colfriend called out, hoping that Rainbow could hear him within.

Seconds went by and the day's sun continued to shine down on the cloud home and the light blue stallion continued to wait for some kind of response. None came, however, and Soarin soon found himself fumbling with his spare key. Dash had given it to him a bit ago in case he ever forgot something Wonderbolts related at her house and really needed to grab it.

Or so she said. Soarin had just accepted it graciously, and now found himself glad he had it.

"Dash?" he called out again as he entered the house, only to find upon entering that all of the lights were out in the house of varying blues. It was still daytime so visibility wasn't much of an issue, and this was for the best since it allowed Soarin to see a piece of paper laying on a nearby piece of furniture that was not there the last time he visited.

Soarin trotted over to the paper and placed his flowers down, finding himself in the living room of the house. The paper in hoof, he read Dash's terrible pensmenship from it.

"Soarin, I'm sorry but I have something real important I need to go to and got to run. I'll be back by tonight if you still want to go out. Love, Dash," Soarin tilted his head as he pondered just what his marefriend was doing, "Huh. Wonder what's come up?"

Something caught the pale blue pony's eye in the corner of the room that only added to his curiosity: a cardboard box with what appeared to be a scooter, a few books, and a blanket laying inside of it.

Soarin inspected the objects for another moment before putting the paper in his hoof down, "That's odd," he turned back towards the still open door, having forgotten to close it, "Oh well. No use staying here I guess. I'll just come back later."

Soarin shut the door behind him on his way out as he thought about just what he should do next since he had a few hours to kill, "Maybe I'll pick up some pie to kill the time. That place with the prodigy babies ought to have some I bet!"

He remembered visiting the place with Dash before, and he distinctly remembered just how great their pies were. They tasted just like that great one from the Gala! But, Soarin wondered, since when could foals fly and use magic? Some fillies couldn't even do that, he thought incredulously as he spread his wings and prepared to take flight.

He had pie to eat.

* * *

"Awww, there's a party going on! How am I supposed to get pie now?"

Upon his quick arrival at the nearby sweets shop the first thing that caught Soarin's attention were the loud voices coming from inside of Sugarcube Corner and that about a half dozen pony figures were moving about inside of it.

Soarin, determined to get pie, took a closer look at the window and tried to see if the owners were inside and not busy. His search stopped quickly after his eyes caught sight of a more interesting thing instead.

"Wait, is that Rainbow Dash in there?" Soarin frowned as he looked inside the shop at his marefriend who was conversing with some small orange pegasus filly with a purple mane, "Wonder why she didn't just tell me where she was going to be? Did she not want me to come?"

His staring activated his special somepony's sixth sense though, and Rainbow Dash quickly caught sight of him in the window. With a pat on the head for the filly next to her, she quickly dashed to the door and came out to greet him, "Hey Soarin! Sorry bout leaving ya hanging, but I promised to come to this party before I said I would go on our date. I just forgot the day and all and had to run quick to not let Scootaloo down!"

Soarin nodded, having come to understand in the past few weeks that Dash's ability to tell time was less than stellar. Maybe she should wear a watch, he thought. Even a drawn on watch would make her think about time more.

"Scootaloo...why does that name sound familiar?"

Dash laughed as she playfully socked him on the shoulder, "Because I've told you about her like a hundred times, duh! She's a filly from around here who started the official Rainbow Dash fanclub," her face was glowing and smug as she finished her sentence, only to become aloof as she went on, "It's kind of her birthday and I'm having my friend Pinkie Pie throwing her a party."

Soarin felt quite interested in meeting a filly that Rainbow Dash liked that much and spoke up as such, "Cool! Can I come in?"

"Uhh..." came Dash's voice, the mare suddenly becoming lost in thought.

The fact that Rainbow Dash was looking nervous made Soarin nervous too, so he put a hoof on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her, "What's wrong Dash?"

Rainbow's eyes fell to the ground beneath them, "Well, you see, I..."

Her voice trailed off again and Soarin felt himself frowning again. Something was off with Dash, and he wanted to find out. Before he could inquire though she spoke again, an unsure inflection to her voice, but now she was looking him in the eye.

"I'm not sure if I should introduce you to her yet. I mean, I've kind of taken her under my wing and...I don't know, I'm just not exactly sure if I should introduce her to my coltfriend yet. You see, I..."

Soarin pulled Dash in for an embrace with a warm smile on his muzzle, "It's okay Dash. You should go and have fun with her-"

He never finished that sentence, for an orange and purple blur blasted out of the shop and barreled right towards the two lovebirds, the blur revealing itself to be a small filly, "Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh! Rainbow-Dash-it's-a-Wonderbolt! What's-a-Wonderbolt-doing-here-"

Rainbow Dash removed herself from Soarin and placed a hoof on the filly's mouth to stop the verbal onslaught, "Breathe."

The filly nodded and Rainbow Dash removed her hoof, the orange child taking a deep breath before letting out a bashful, "Hehe, sorry about that," clearing her throat, the filly turned all her attention on Soarin who was in a state of amusement, "I'm Scootaloo! It's so awesome to meet you, mister Soarin!"

While not an egomaniac like his marefriend could be at times, Soarin did have an ego one could play to like any superstar could have: He quickly found himself smiling down to the filly as she fluttered in place with wings flapping in excitement, "Oh, so you know about me?"

Scootaloo lifted her nose in the air and scoffed, "Pfft, as if I wouldn't know my idol's idol! You're one of the best Wonderbolts ever, not to mention fliers!" her tone dialed down though when a thought came to her mind, "But what's an important Wonderbolt official like you doing here? Are you here to tell Rainbow Dash she's finally a full fledged Wonderbolt and-"

Following Dash's lead, Soarin stuck a hoof in Scootaloo's mouth to stop her, "Slow down, kiddo. I was just coming to get some pie when I saw Dash here."

The filly nodded as she took the information in, but her head bob slowed when she noticed just how close the two blue ponies were standing to one another. A brow raised in confusion, but Rainbow Dash spoke before her number one fan could question it, "Scootaloo, Soarin is..." the mare took in a breath and let it out before finishing, "Soarin is my coltfriend."

Scootaloo's eyes widened until they looked like dish saucers, her mouth's smile growing the same way before the filly fluttered in the air in pure excitemnt, "Ohmygosh, that's awesome Rainbow Dash!" upon landing Scootaloo cleared her throat and her eyebrow rose again, a thought having struck her mind, "But wait, don't the Wonderbolts have rules against that kind of thing?"

Soarin laughed, "Of course not! Why would anypony stop anypony from being with who they want to be with?"

Rainbow bonked Scootaloo lightly on the forehead to the Filly's consternation, "Don't mind her. She's just been reading a lot about fictional societies and I bet she's picked up some odd ideas along the way."

"Reading's fun though!" Scootaloo pouted indignantly which only managed to amuse Dash.

Dash rubbed Scootaloo's head affectionately and Soarin smiled at the sight, the blue mare speaking with a fun tone, "You're right, but I'm thinking we should get back to your party, missy," Dash looked up to Soarin and smirked, having come to a decision, "The three of us."

Scootaloo nodded before rearing up and running full speed back into the shop, "Well then come on, we're about to play pin the tail on the pony!" she called over her shoulder as she ran inside.

Dash chuckled and turned to Soarin, stating the obvious, "She's a bit energetic."

Her coltfriend nodded to her, "Balances out your sloth-"

"Don't finish that sentence."

Her tone had been cheerful, so Soarin had thought himself in a safe zone in poking fun at her, "What? You are a bit laz-" a quick kick to the side knocked both his confidence and wind out of him though, "Shutting up now."

The blue duo entered Sugarcube Corner with Dash leading the way, and of course they drew all the room's eyes upon doing so. First Dash had run out and then Scootaloo, so the remaining ponies had been curious where the main ponies of this party were going, and now they had their answer.

"Hey guys, does anypony mind if Soarin joins us for a bit? I kind of had to skip our date so I could be here!"

A white coated mare with a purple mane and a fanciful accent responded to Dash's question with a smile, "Why of course he can join us. It would be so uncouth to just leave him out while he's already here."

Soarin took in the inhabitants of the room with a quick glance: besides Dash, Scootaloo and him, there were two more fillies, the white pony, and a familiar-ish orange coated mare with blonde hair.

Soarin didn't have long enough to remember why the orange coated mare looked familiar before a yellow and red blur caught his attention, a filly suddenly appearing on top of a table next to where he was standing so that they were at eye level, "Are yah a Wonderbolt like Scootaloo says?"

The Wonderbolt opened his mouth to say yes when he felt his leg get lifted up, a white filly with cotton candy hair being the offender as she observed the limb, "How do you leave behind those magical trails when you fly if you can't do magic?"

The yellow filly poked his head with a hoof to steal his attention again, "What's it like being uh Wonderbolt?"

Soarin's leg dropped to the ground suddenly as the white coated filly looked with glee between him and the mare beside him, "How'd you meet Rainbow Dash?"

Soarin bit his lip nervously, never having been swarmed by children before, and tried to utter some kind of response but soon found himself with no need of giving one as blue aura surrounded the white filly. The filly soon found herself in mid dair and floating towards the other white mare in the room who was partially amused by the display, "One question at a time, darlings. Give the poor stallion some room to breathe."

The orange mare spoke next with a southern twang similar to her family member, "Apple Bloom, what have ah told you about climbing on tables?"

The yellow filly leapt down from the furniture with a sheepish, "Oops."

Family safe from falling, the orange coated mare looked to Soarin with a warm smile, "Ah, long time no see Sugarcube."

The pieces in Soarin's mind clicked together and the pegasus beamed as he remembered who the mare was, "Hey, you're the pie pony from the Gala!"

Rainbow elbowed Soarin in the gut playfully as she addressed her friend, "Thanks for selling him that pie, Applejack. Let me save it in the end."

Applejack gave a small nod back, "Yer both welcome. Ah'm just glad yer coltfriend was kind enuff to buy somethin' there. Didn't expect it ta help ya get a stallion though, Dash."

Soarin chuckled before looking around the room hungrily, "It was more than that, but while we're talking about pie I actually came here looking for some! There wouldn't be any around, would there?"

The pale blue stallion found himself bumped onto the floor as a pink pony appeared as if from nowhere and crashed into him, five pie boxes stacked in her hooves as she chirped, "Five apple pies ready to go! Applejack helped me make them earlier today before we set up the party, so they're all fresh and yummy still!"

Soarin, caught off guard, tried to regain his composure from the sudden entrance, "Oh...why thank you. How much for the pies?"

The pink pony giggled as she placed the pies by his hooves, "I already added it to Dashie's bill, silly! I mean, why talk about bits when we should be partying? You two can work that out later! Okey doki Loki?" The odd pony started to leave the room at a much slower pace than she entered, all the while speaking under her breath, "Note to self, Loki needs to visit more. Must get Twilight to ask other princesses to help in this matter."

Soarin just blinked and nodded as the odd being left, "Is she always this...weird?"

"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it," Rainbow Dash whispered.

"Okay then," Soarin replied with a shrug, eyes and attention now on the pies by his legs. Beautiful, delicious, home made-

A high pitched and cracking voice belonging to the white coated filly shook him from his pie reverie, "So mister Wonderbolt, are you going to come play with us?"

Soarin stood back up and shrugged, a grin on his face as he looked about the party room, "Well, I'm not against having fun, so why not?"

* * *

Some many zany hours later Soarin found himself wrapping up his pies to carry in two large saddlebags the pink one had tossed him randomly during the event's proceedings. He had some fun with the group, even if it was a little kid's party. Dash was there and the fillies were all pretty cool, especially Scootaloo who was so cute playing with Dash in the party.

A day full of interruptions was not let down when the tomboyish voice of Scootaloo appeared next to Soarin, the two alone by the doorway as the others gathered their own things, "Why are you dating Rainbow Dash?"

Soarin, nervous and unsure what to say to the filly, decided to deflect the question, "Uhhh, hey Scootaloo. Aren't you busy with wrapping the party up?"

"Nope. Rainbow Dash said she's got it and would be back in a flash," Scootaloo plopped her flank down beside him and looked up to the much larger pony, "You didn't answer my question though."

Not exactly used to handling kids, Soarin tried his best to not reveal his nervousness, "Well, Rainbow Dash is great and I really, really like her. She's fun, she's tough and there aren't that many other mares who can keep up with me. There's a lot of reasons I'd like to date her."

A simple silent nod was followed with another, apparently unrelated, question, "Where do you come from?"

"Cloudsdale," Soarin stated proudly, "Been living there most my life, outside of the Wonderbolts that is."

Another nod and another question, the filly's face revealing to Soarin that she was pensive about something, "How much older than Dash are you?"

Now it was Soarin's turn that day to raise a brow, "A few years...why? I feel like I'm in a job interview."

"No reason," Scootaloo replied quickly, as if she was hiding something. Silence hung in the air a moment before she asked, "Ever taught somepony to fly?"

Soarin bit his lip, unsure how to exactly answer that, "Yes and no. I've taught ponies how to refine their basic flight skills into something special, but I've never taught somepony how to fly from scratch."

"Who do you like better, Princess Celestia or Princess Luna?"

That one caught Soarin off guard and he found himself stuttering, "Uhhh, well, uhhh...Well, I like nighttime more than daytime and since I don't personally know the princesses I can't exactly choose beyond that...so Luna? Maybe?"

Scootaloo smiled a little bit which had the effect of easing some of Soarin's tension, even if he didn't know how he did it. Then another question to nopony's surprise, "Do you like Mare Do Well?"

The Wonderbolt smirked, "Read the series even before Dash tried making me. I'd prefer if they hadn't made that last one though."

Scootaloo nodded, "Fastest you've ever flown?"

Soarin found himself baffled by the myriad of questions, but decided to play along even if this topic embarassed him a little, "I'm not the fastest Wonderbolt I'll admit, but I make up for it with control and technique."

"So Rainbow Dash could beat you?" Scootaloo asked somewhat innocently but mostly in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Not always! If the race is a straight line she'd beat me every time, but throw obstacles in and she can barely keep up with me!"

Scootaloo looked from her own blank flank to the stallion's, "Why's your cutie mark the Wonderbolt symbol?"

"Well, that's a bit complicated you see. I got it when-"

The conversation, true to form, was interrupted (to Soarin's glee) by Rainbow Dash who approached the two from behind, "Hey guys, I'm back! That was pretty fun, huh Scoots?"

Scootaloo jumped up and wrapped her front hooves around Rainbow Dash's leg, glee simply emanating from the filly, "I had the best time of my life!" the filly nuzzled its head and purple mane into Rainbow's chest for a moment before turning back to face Soarin, "Did you have fun mister Soarin?"

The Wonderbolt gave a small smile, not about to reveal that parties and things for young fillies were not his favorite, but he did enjoy the company in the end, "It was...interesting. In a good way. I didn't know fillies could be that loud though."

"Hey, I can be as loud as I want!" Scootaloo replied with a loud voice fit for Pinkie Pie, and painful for poor Dash who was directly beside her.

As Rainbow Dash rubbed an ear with a hoof Scootaloo put on a sheepish face, "Hehe, whoops, forgot you were right there."

Rainbow Dash just gave her trademark smirk to the filly as she rubbed her purple mane, "Don't mind that blockhead. I'm just glad you had fun, no matter the volume."

Scootaloo instantly resumed glomping the blue mare's leg and nuzzling into her, "Thank you so much Rainbow Dash! This has to be the best day ever!"

While the energetic filly continued this display Soarin had something on his mind he felt like voicing, "So what now? Is that it?"

Rainbow Dash looked up to him with a blushing face, telling herself she only was allowing this sappy display because it was Scootaloo's birthday, "Well, I was planning on taking Scoots to the theater."

"Ponyville has one of those? I didn't know you liked plays."

Dash sighed and shook her head, exasperated by his misunderstanding, "Movie theater, Soarin. We were going to see Paddock Rim. Care to come hang with us?"

Remembering his own viewing of the movie, Soarin nodded before growing hesitant, "Sure, but isn't that movie a bit...mature for a filly?"

Scootaloo instantly stopped her face nuzzling to jump away from Dash and jab a hoof in Soarin's direction, her face appearing as tough as she could manage, "I'm not a scaredy-pony, I can take it!"

Rainbow put a hoof on Scootaloo's head to ruffle her hair, "I'm sure you can, Scoots. Soarin here just is remembering how he was about ready to fly out of the theater when we saw it. Isn't that right, Soarin?"

"You said you wouldn't tell anypony!" Soarin declared in anguish, causing both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash to start laughing their flanks off.

Between laughs Scootaloo choked out, "It's okay mister Soarin, everypony is scared of something."

"Some more than others," Dash whispered, only to send both of them into a new fit of laughter.

Soarin decided to take a stand against the female duo, "It's okay Dash, remember that I can name a few things that scare you too."

"Hah, Rainbow Dash isn't scared of anything!" Scootaloo declared proudly.

"Is that right? Then why won't she come visit my parent's house after I went to hers already? Or how about when she choked up before the young flier's competition-"

Now Rainbow jabbed a hoof in front of Soarin's mouth, cutting her coltfriend off, "Enough about me, how about we go and see the movie?"

A big smile with all teeth showing was Scootaloo's way of showing her excitement, along with the fluttering of her small wings, "Can we get a ton of popcorn?"

Rainbow Dash pushed the filly towards the door in a signal to get going, "Of course we can. Wouldn't be much of a movie without some!" the mare turned to Soarin with a cheeky smile as she mimicked Rarity's voice, "Soarin will go and get the free refills, won't you darling?"

Soarin chuckled a bit, "I just can't win today, can I?"

"More refills you go and get, the less alien gore you'll see," Rainbow stated as a fact.

That made him smile.

Scootaloo grabbed an object with wheels off the wall and opened the door, slapping a helmet on as she began to leave, "Come on, if we don't get going we're going to be late!"

Soarin observed the small contraption Scootaloo now rode away from Sugarcube Corner with and started to voice this curiosity when he was once again cut off, this time with a stare, "Is that a-"

Rainbow Dash's serious glare halted his words, but her eyes quickly softened and she made her way past him out the door, "Well, let's get going! I can't wait to see it again!"

Soarin shrugged at the sudden mood whiplash of his marefriend and chalked it up to her being a girl, and soon found himself running after the two with him pies in tow in his bags.

* * *

One long monster beat em up later, the trio of pegasi found themselves outside the theater late at night. Late for Scootaloo that was, for she was about to fall over on her scooter and her eyes were mostly closed.

Rainbow Dash scooped Scootaloo into her hooves and smiled down at the tired filly, "It's getting late, huh? You have school tomorrow, so we'd better get you to sleep."

"I'm not tired..." said the filly who couldn't finish the sentence due to being asleep in the furry hooves of Rainbow Dash. Both Soarin and Rainbow smiled down at the orange filly as she slept peacefully, her half on helmet falling to the ground as she shifted a little.

Soarin reached for the filly, unable to stop a larger smile from forming on his face as he looked at the cute filly, "Here, I got her. I'm better at flying with passengers than you."

Rainbow Dash relented and handed Scootaloo over, the filly remaining dead asleep, and picked up her helmet and scooter instead, "Just because I dropped you that one time doesn't mean I am bad at carrying ponies, it means you eat too much pie."

Soarin stuck his tongue out at her before taking off. Once in the air, he found that he had no idea where he was supposed to bring this filly. Shouldn't her parents be worried she was out this late? "Where are we going by the way?"

"My house," Rainbow Dash stated plainly, giving no explanation.

Soarin nodded before processing that information, "Oh, okay-" they were dozens of feet in the air before his brain clicked, "Wait, what?"

Rainbow Dash didn't respond to him, instead flying silently towards her home with Soarin beside her. Her face was mostly composed, but Soarin knew her well enough to know that her being quiet of all things was definitely a sign that all things were not okay, "Is everything okay, Dashie?"

Rainbow gave off a small sigh, "Yeah, I guess I'm just kind of feeling, well, anxious..."

"What about?"

She didn't respond in an instant, instead biting her lip as she thought about how to phrase what she was going to say, "I'm thinking about adopting Scootaloo since she doesn't have a family. She's been living with me a couple days now and I just have been thinking it'd make sense, but I..." Rainbow looked over to Soarin to meet his eyes, her own showing a wariness not common in the mare, "I'm cool with being like her big sister, but by taking her in I'm not sure I can be a mom to her too."

Soarin did his best not to drop his jaw. Rainbow Dash, miss reckless and danger, thinking about adopting a young kid? That was something he didn't see coming, "Wow, I can see why you're nervous. This is a big thing for you," Soarin replaced any shock on his face with a warm grin, trying to cheer her up, "But whatever you do, I'm behind you all the way Dash! She seems like a great filly, and I don't think many others out there deserve someone as great as you to take care of them."

Dash wanted to nuzzle with him for his support, but didn't do so because of their flight, "Thank you Soarin. It means a lot to me," after a brief moment of thinking, Rainbow came up with an idea, "You wouldn't mind helping me though, would you? I mean, I know it's asking a lot, but I'm not sure I can do this by myself."

The Wonderbolt nodded to her happily, "I love you Dashie. Of course I'll help you in whatever way I can."

"You're so sweet. Be careful, or else Pinkie might think you're candy!" the blue mare let out a content sigh, "And after I think about it a bit more, I think I'll talk to Twilight when she's not busy. She'll know what I need to do to adopt Scootaloo. She even knows what its like to raise a child because of Spike."

"Is Spike the dragon I've heard about?" there weren't many dragons amongst ponykind, so Soarin thought he'd ask given what he'd been able to learn from time with Rainbow Dash's friends.

"The one and only. I haven't been able to tell if Twilight's like his mom or sister, but I guess in this case it doesn't matter since I'll be kind of both to Scootaloo."

Soarin looked down to the sleeping filly in his hooves, her orange fur pressed up close against his due to his tight hold, "Does she know?"

Rainbow Dash's face became a bit more neutral at that question, as if it were something she didn't particularly like, "I'm not entirely sure. I'm not even sure if she'll want me to. I've got to talk to her about it."

"She worships the ground you walk on and the air you fly through, I'm pretty sure she would love to have a better bond with you. I know I like sharing one with you!"

Rainbow stuck her tongue out at him playfully, "How'd Spitfire ever let somepony so goofy and cheesey into the Wonderbolts?"

"She's much more relaxed off duty, ya know. Even uses an entirely different voice!"

The Wonderbolt in training laughed because of the truth in his statement, "You know, you're right. Kind of odd," calming down, Dash's tone became inquisitive and sweet, "Hey Soarin?"

"Yes Dash?"

"You said you like-like me."

He scoffed playfully, "Is saying love really that hard?"

"More ya use it the less it means. Anyways, I was thinking-"

"A dangerous prospect," he snarked, knowing he could only get away with it since she wouldn't dare hit him while he was caring Scootaloo mid air.

"Hey, I'm not dumb!" Dash replied in a vindictive whisper before settling back into her previous voice, "So, what I was going to ask was if you love me enough to be there with me when I break the news to my parents about Scoots?"

Soarin's eyes blanked, staring off into space.

"Soarin?...Soarin? You okay there?"

"Soarin? Oh my gosh, did I break him?"

* * *

_A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? If you felt one of the first two, I'd love to hear from you about your thoughts! This story is just for fun, so I hope you readers were able to have some!_


	3. Meet the (Small) Friends

_A/N: In keeping with the birthday-release theme, this chapter is dedicated to my closest high school friend Sam whose birthday is today! Smartest kid I've ever known, and where I went to school that really means something! Happy birthday Sam, even if you won't ever see this shoutout._

Thanks to everyone who commented on "Meet the Scootaloo"! You guys helped this chapter be released much sooner than the next likely date, October 31st (mother's birthday AND Halloween), so thank you again and I hope to hear from you again!

If someone catches every reference in this chapter they should get a medal. Not from me, but they should get one. I'd suggest Kuwagata.

Enjoy!

* * *

It wasn't very long after Scootaloo's birthday that Soarin noticed his special somepony return to a less nervous state of being, and he had a pretty good guess when visiting her house one night why that was.

"How'd it go?" he asked with a grin towards Rainbow, who was currently laying down on her couch with her eyes glued to a television.

Rainbow grew a grin of her own, turning the television off with a remote as she turned to face Soarin, "Pretty well, actually. You see-"

* * *

It was late and time for a certain filly to go to bed when Rainbow Dash managed to gather her courage. For some reason talking to a cute, young filly was more nerve wracking than facing down a manticore or dragon, and she wasn't even sure about how to do this.

Scootaloo was humming to herself happily in bed, Daring Do plush at her side as she waited for the mare sitting on her bed to say something.

"Sooo, Scootaloo..."

Scootaloo replied in the absence of her idol speaking, her own tone being chipper, "Yes Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow rubbed a hoof across the back of her head and twitched an ear, still trying to put what she wanted to say into words, "I was thinking..." she still hadn't met Scootaloo's large eyes, instead biting her lip a little more before glancing toward the orange child, "How would you like to hang out here with me for more than a little while?"

Scootaloo, having been freaking out over the possibility of maybe living with Rainbow Dash for good at school the past few days, tried to feign innocence, "What do you mean?"

"Do you...do you want to live with me?" Rainbow managed to get out, but her nerve wracked feelings brought her to add, "I mean, it's fine if-"

Scootaloo jumping up and wrapping their hooves around her in a tight hug cut Rainbow Dash off, "Of course I would love to live here with you! That would be AWESOME!"

The blue adult wrapped her own hoof around the filly, "Hehe, I'm glad you like the idea."

Retracting slightly from her embrace, Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash with a gaze of curiosity, "So wait, are you going to be like my sister or like my mom?"

Rainbow tilted her head as she thought it over, not having really thought out how this would all work like many things in her life, "Well, I guess I'll have to be a bit of both, like Applejack is to Apple Bloom."

That statement got Scootaloo to raise her brow, "Wait, Applejack's Apple Bloom's mom?"

In turn Rainbow Dash tried to rectify the situation, albeit to little effect, "Uhhh, no, er, maybe, I mean, kind of-" after a brief pause a perfect explanation came to mind for the blue mare and she went for it, "She's a mom-sister figure to Apple Bloom who does what she can to take care of her. Get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo cheered, hugging Rainbow Dash again, before stating in an unsure voice, "I think?"

Rainbow laughed and rubbed the purple mane next to her while wearing a warm smile, "Hey Scootaloo?"

"Yeah Rainbow Dash?"

"Just don't act all this mushy in public. A girl's got a reputation to keep."

* * *

Upon the story's conclusion, Soarin gave his special somepony's face a nuzzle with his own, "I'd say it went well!" retracting his head, the stallion asked, "So, what now?"

Rainbow Dash yawned, the hour being so late in the day the princess of the night was taking over her duties, "Just have to fill out some paperwork and Scootaloo is officially my little filly."

"You've come quite a ways since I first met you Dashie. The mare I remember at the Young Flyers Competition was quite the egomaniac once she got past her stage fright."

"Yeah, well, saving Equestria and learning life lessons with your friends seemingly every week might have had something to do with that," Rainbow sardonically replied, not liking the level of sappiness things were getting to.

Soarin rolled his eyes at her tone before nudging her with a hoof softly, "Just promise me you won't mellow out completely! You wouldn't be half as fun."

Dash rolled off her back and stood up on top of the couch so that she then was elevated above Soarin, sticking her nose up and laughing, "Aw heck no, of course I'm not going to get as soft as Fluttershy! I'm Rainbow Dash, Equestria's number one flier, and nopony is going to change that!"

Soarin narrowed his eyes and his warm smile changed to a smug one, "You mean number two."

That response made the haughty mare look down at him and scoff, "Care to put your money where your muzzle is?"

The paler blue pony turned around and closed his eyes, the smug grin remaining on his face, "Not really, no, since we both know it's true Dash," his eyes opened when a lack of commotion and noise caught his attention, "Hey, where is Scootaloo anyways?"

Rainbow hopped off the couch, landing gracefully, and blinked a moment before responding, "She's, uh...finishing up a club meeting with her friends. I should probably pick her up soon..."

Soarin wanted to sigh, since Dash had obviously forgot completely about having to pick Scootaloo up at some point, but kept his countenance neutral to not make her begin doubting herself. Despite his lack of condescension Rainbow's face still faltered and she let out a small sigh, head hanging.

"What's with the face?"

Dash looked up at Soarin with eyes not containing any of the pride they did only a minute ago, "Can you do it? I don't think I can now that I remembered something."

Soarin rose his brow, not being aversive to the idea but also not understanding the reasoning, "Remind me why I'm doing this again?"

"Because you love me?" Dash joked weakly.

Eyes rolled, "I meant why you can't just do it."

Rainbow let out a nervous laugh while running to the door, "I promised I'd help out Twilight with some chores at the library after I kind of wrecked it with a stunt...again," Soarin heard the door open and his marefriend call from it, "I should actually be there now, so have fun! It's the only clubhouse by the Apple Family farm forest!"

Soarin opened his mouth to object that he doesn't really know where the clubhouse was despite that information, but the door shut as his partially irresponsible special somepony ran to do something she probably should have been doing instead of watching television.

Soarin couldn't help be both amused and exasperated. Dash was dutiful and would never not do something vital or job related, but she had a teency-eency bit of a problem with things beyond that as a result of her laziness.

Scootaloo was going to either adapt to that or change that pretty quickly he was sure.

"Well...here's hoping for the best."

* * *

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CONSTRUCTION WORKERS!"

It took Soarin more time than he would have liked to find the clubhouse, but given how the day's light was fading fast and it wasn't in the most obvious of places he supposed he did the best he could. A helpful tip from a stargazing pony by the name of...Cabbage? No, that was lunch to counterbalance the pie for breakfast. Orion was the name, Soarin thought for sure.

Given the night's darkness, having somepony who likes seeing the bright stars out was a good coincidence on Soarin's behalf and the Wonderbolt had quickly found the clubhouse and...all it contained.

The three fillies from Scootaloo's birthday party were screaming loudly about something when Soarin arrived on the outside of the place. He tapped a hoof on the open doorway and gave a nervous smile as he intruded on their...activity.

The sound of a power drill and a saw cutting both stopped as Soarin spoke, "Uhhh, hello there."

Scootaloo, wearing a welding mask for some unfathomable reason to him, turned around first and squeaked, "Ohmygoshohmygosh!" she tossed the mask aside and ran over to him. The filly cleared her throat before speaking, obviously trying to act cool after her previous squeak, "H-hey mister Soarin!"

Soarin smiled down to her, still a bit nervous that these fillies were doing such...dangerous activities for...some reason, "Hey there..." he looked past Scootaloo at whatever contraption they were making that now had seven legs to stand on, two of which were facing upwards, "Should fillies be using power tools?"

Scootaloo looked back at the odd contraption, "What, this?" the filly shrugged nonchalantly, "Meh, we've done more dangerous stuff."

The white coated filly in the room rubbed her chin with a hoof, scrutinizing the terrible table-thing, "Haven't we done this before?"

The other one, who Soarin remembered being named Apple Bloom, shrugged as if it didn't matter, and the white coated one did the same back.

What Scootaloo said still worried Soarin, who was trying his absolute hardest and best to not freak out as a reasonably responsible adult, "More dangerous?"

The white coated one jumped up in the air with a happy face and squeaky voice, "Yeah, a lot more dangerous!" the, admittedly adorable, filly's expression deflated upon landing however, "I'm still bummed we didn't get our fillynapped cutie marks though..."

The one known as Apple Bloom gave a nervous chuckle before putting a hoof over her friend's mouth, "Hehe, don't mind 'er. She doesn't relly think before she talks,"

The white unicorn filly pushed the hoof away and gave an indignant cry, "Hey, I reserve that remark!"

Scootaloo sighed and shook her head beside Soarin, "It's resent."

The unicorn gave a huff, "What are you, a dictionary?"

Apple Bloom spoke next, Soarin deciding not to get in the middle of things, "I think the word you meant was resemble."

Before the argument could prolong, Soarin patted Scootaloo on the head and spoke in a voice loud enough to grab everypony's attention while not sounding like a yell, "Well then, Rainbow Dash sent me here to pick up Scootaloo, so we'd best be going!"

Apple Bloom walked over to Soarin and sat down in front of him, giving him better puppy dog eyes than her pet Winona could manage, "Awww, can't you stay for a bit?"

"As much as I'd love to-" Soarin started, but never finished. His eyes were drawn to the adorable filly in front of him with a cute bow on her head. He tore them away from the moe creature, only to see Scootaloo giving him the same face on the side of him. A turn in the other direction and the unicorn was doing the same.

His thoughts at the time were something along the line of: Too...cute...this should be outlawed.

"I...guess I could stick around a little longer."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! the three cried out, their faces shifting from pitiable to extreme joy.

Soarin felt his nervous smile grow back on his face, "You all are pretty energetic, aren't you?"

"YUUUP!" the unicorn yelled happily, glad that Scootaloo and the Wonderbolt would be staying longer.

Soarin put a hoof to his own mouth a made a shhhh noise, "Inside voices."

"Okay," the white unicorn filly replied in a soft whisper.

After seeing the power tool display and the monstrosity of a thing it led to, Soarin fashioned himself curious about this place, "So...what is it that you fillies do here?"

Scootaloo jumped and fluttered a bit beside him in joy, "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders, so we try to find our special talents!"

Apple Bloom stepped towards Soarin and looked right up at him, not seeming to know that he already knew her name by how her sister said it the other day, "I'm Apple Bloom by the way! Sorry ah didn't say who ah was the other day."

"And I'm Sweetie Belle!" the white unicorn chipped in cheerfully, her voice beginning to creep back up while also cracking a bit.

Curious by their group name, a glance to all three of the fillies revealed something to Soarin he hadn't really thought about before in regards to them, "Wait, all three of you still don't have cutie marks?"

Scootaloo snickered and rolled her eyes in a way that would make Rainbow Dash proud, "Well duuuuuh, if we did it would be pretty silly to be trying to get them if we had them, wouldn't it?"

Soarin scrunched his face up, trying to think this over. These fillies all were pretty old to not have cutie marks, but it wasn't untold of. He hadn't gotten his all that early, but then again he knew he was good at flying before he knew it was his special talent.

That gave him an idea.

"Tell me then, what are you three good at?"

Apple Bloom gave a small laugh and a shrug, "We don't really know, so we try everythin'!"

Sweetie Belle hopped up again, her face gleeful, "Yeah, like the talent fair where we won the comedy award!"

Scootaloo groaned at her friend's chipper attitude, "They only gave that to us because they thought our singing was so bad it was funny."

Sweetie Belle had either forgotten or didn't know this previously, for she stopped dead in her tracks and face became a mix of anger and surprise, "Really?!"

"You guys were in a talent fair? What did you guys do?"

"Well, we sang, did stunts and made props. It...it didn't go very well," Scootaloo answered sheepishly.

"I thought it went well..." Sweetie Belle added, albeit dejectedly.

Soarin grinned at Sweetie Belle in an attempt to lift her spirits, "Ahh, don't feel bad. I'm sure you're a great singer."

It did it's purpose and the filly smiled, although Apple Bloom spoke up just as her friend did so, "Sweetie is pretteh good at singin', but it isn't exactly...on key."

Scootaloo nodded affirmatively, "Well when we were practicing we seemed to do all right...Apple Bloom knew how to make the props, I knew how to do the stunts well, and Sweetie helped me write the song. It...just didn't come together well."

"Have you three thought about pursuing what you individually did well at back then? You mind find your talents!" Soarin noted hopefully, beginning to realize these fillies may have hope for them yet.

Apple Bloom shook her head sweetly, "If it was that easy we would have gotten em while we were practicing! There's no way ah'm good at making stuff, Scootaloo is good at stunts and Sweetie's supposed to be a singer or anything like that."

"Suit yourselves. What's your next plan for getting your Cutie Marks?"

The three gathered together in front of Soarin and looked to one another briefly, Soarin finding himself caught completely off guard when the trio jumped up and yelled in unison, "Cutie Mark Crusader Pirates!"

Sweetie pumped a hoof into the air, "Awesome idea! We can search for treasure and get all of the booty!"

Soarin tried not to snicker at what the innocent child just said while Apple Bloom piped up next, "We're going to need uh captain."

Sweetie Belle lowered her hoof to point at her friend, "I vote you!"

Scootaloo nodded and pointed as well, "Agreed! I want the be the ninja-first mate!"

Sweetie's hoof shot back up, now waving like they were in a classroom, "Ooh, ooh, can I be the navigator?!"

"Sure, why not?" Apple Bloom reasoned soundly.

Soarin rose an eyebrow, "Do you three have a boat?"

The so-called captain of the group ran over to the corner of the room where the pitiable structure they had been builing before Soarin's arrival lay, "Not at tha moment, but ah'm sure ah can make whun for us!"

"Awesome! I'll go grab some sticks I can use as swords!" Scootaloo proclaimed proudly, beginning to trot towards the door.

"I'll draw a map!" Sweetie Belle happily proclaimed. A moment later the filly jabbed a hoof forward and yelled, "Hey, wait a minute!"

Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and Apple Bloom looked over to what Sweetie was now pointing at, "What is it Sweetie Belle?"

Soarin, the thing being pointed at, was very confused as Sweetie proclaimed, "We can be sky pirates!"

The Wonderbolt felt his stomach drop instantly, eyes widening as thoughts of crashing and hurt fillies filled his mind. Luckily for him, Scootaloo climbed on his back and sat down on it, realizing a flaw in her friend's idea, "Not sure we could all fit on here, Sweetie Belle."

"But it'd be so much fun!" the cute but ditzy unicorn noted.

Scootaloo spoke up again, "Sky pirates would be stupid anyways. What'd we plunder? A rain cloud?"

"She's right Sweetie, there aren't treasures in tha sky," Apple Bloom reasoned in a know-it-all manner...before asking Soarin, her voice a bit worried, "Right?"

"Sure?" he answered ambiguously in regards to sarcasm and seriousness.

This issue settled, the three fillies jumped to work with a cry from Apple Bloom of, "Get to work everypony!"

Soarin was pretty sure he should stop this, but was also just as curious as to where it'd lead.

* * *

An hour and a half later, the group reconvened with Apple Bloom having a roughly carved wooden boat ready and able to fit out the door, Sweetie holding a crudely drawn map of all of Ponyville and the surrounding area to her knowledge, and Scootaloo with three sticks that she had sharpened to an almost dangerous level...with other sticks, Soarin hoped.

"That was fast," Soarin noted, based on their overall accomplishment.

"Eeyup. We've been doing this awhile," the captain stated. Right after this was said though, Apple Bloom gave her friend with the orange coat a curious glance, "Three sticks, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo dropped the sticks to the clubhouse floor and grinned in a way that made Soarin wan "Of course! Imagine how cool it'd be to be some kind of ninja-pirate with three swords? That'd be awesome!"

"How can you hold them all though? You aren't a unicorn," Soarin noted, privately envying the dexterity his unicorn friends could have.

Scootaloo scooped one stick up in each hoof and one with her mouth, looking utterly ridiculous and all the more adorable in the process, "Whump imp mm motph, whnn inh etch hfff!"

Soarin chuckled at the display briefly, only to have the voice of Sweetie Belle draw everypony's attention again, "I finished the map!"

"Great! Let's go sailing!" Scootaloo turned to Rainbow Dash's coltfriend, "Come with us mister Soarin!"

Before Soarin could agree, or note that it was ridiculously late out and that they all should be in bed (except him of course), Sweetie Belle chimed in once more, "We should sing! All good pirates sing!"

Apple Bloom smiled to her friend and gave a nod of approval as captain, "Ahlright. What should we sing?"

Sweetie grinned from ear to ear, "I got bored making the map at first, so I made us a song!"

"Cool! Let's hear it, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo cheered, spitting out her mouth sword to do so.

Sweetie Belle took in a breath before beginning her song:

"YO!

ya-yo, ya-yo

Dreamin', don't give it up-"

Which she never got to continue further due to the load and concerned voice of a mare outside the clubhouse.

"Soarin!? Scootaloo!?"

Scootaloo recognized the voice of her idol and dropped her swords on the ground, letting out a nervous, "Whoops."

In through the doorway came Rainbow Dash, who looked around the clubhouse to find the three fillies and Soarin, all of whom had weird attire on, Soarin having been forced to put on a pirate hat.

Feeling a need to explain this, Soarin tried to start their conversation smoothly, so that he could steer if away from the whole part about him not doing what he came to do, "Heey Dashie, what's up?"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the stallion with a furtive voice and who now felt like he was as big as the fillies in the clubhouse, "Hey yourself mister. What're you still doing here? Scootaloo needs to get home and get to sleep" she then looked down to Scootaloo with an annoyed glance, "Which she knows."

Scootaloo chuckled sheepishly and started towards the door, "Ooh, look at the time. I guess we better be getting home! Am I right?"

Rainbow sighed as the filly passed her, "You know what you did," the blue mare looked to the other two fillies, who had both deflated upon hearing Rainbow Dash arrive, "Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, you two should probably think about heading home soon too. It's getting pretty dark out."

The duo nodded as Rainbow Dash wished them goodnight and pulled Scootaloo up and onto her own back, Soarin following suit and heading out the door.

* * *

Upon leaving the clubhouse the pegasus trio found themselves walking through the woods by it, Rainbow Dash taking the time to chew out Soarin, "You didn't answer me."

"Well, you see, I don't think it was fair sending me a place with three fillies..."

Rainbow Dash looked at him seriously, "You can't handle three kids?"

Soarin grunted and scrunched up his face, bitter that Scootaloo wasn't defending him, "Well, I don't think I've ever run into such an adorable trio! I mean, it's just not right! Who ever had the bright idea of putting a bow on a filly? Or giving them such great puppy dog eyes?"

And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Rainbow Dash, who had been trying to keep a stern face for fun, and Scootaloo, who wasn't sure if this was a joke or not until now, both broke out in a fit of laughter while the filly rode on Rainbow's back.

Soarin, though, blushed in embarassment, "Stop laughing!"

Rainbow leaned on him affectionately while she continued to laugh, "Soarin, I was just pulling your leg. I forgot her first after all, so it was my fault to begin with," a devilish grin grew on her face as the laughter subsided, the mare now looking back to Scootaloo, "Still...How should we punish him, Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo sat up and stifled her laughter, "Ooh, ooh! He should read to me until I fall asleep! That'll make us even!"

Soarin couldn't believe this, "Us even? Don't forget that you were one of the terrible trio of fillies who suckered me with cute faces!"

Revealing his soft spot for adorable children a second time just got the two girls to laugh again, Rainbow Dash carrying Scootaloo into the night air as their cackles filled the otherwise silent night.

Soarin tried to take off, but tripped over a branch while he continued forward and hit the ground, the two girls leaving him behind as he called out, "Hey, get back here! Come on guys, stop laughing!"

Desperate to catch up, Soarin got up and ran forward as fast as he could to take off at a higher speed. This too was met with failure, as he crashed into another pony and they both tumbled into the ground, Soarin apologizing, "Sorry about that!"

The other pony, a black maned earth pony with gaunt features, got up and rubbed off the dirt he now had on his expensive clothes, "It's alright. Isn't that right, Bulky?"

Soarin glanced to the side to see a very obese pony with a handkerchief around their likely bald head just laugh at the misfortune, "Sure, Skull. After all, you know all about having a crazy wife and kid, don't you?" glancing at Soarin, he nodded towards the blue mare flying off in the sky, "They've gotten pretty far. Better catch them buddy."

"Sorry again! Have a good night!" Soarin stretched his wings out and took off in a more controlled manner this time, leaving the two other ponies behind as he finally managed to take flight.

* * *

Once back at the house, Rainbow Dash explained to the exhausted Soarin (who did his best to catch up with his speedster marefriend) that while talking to Twilight the egghead had given her a laundry list of things she should try to do as a parent, and making sure fillies got to sleep on time was just about at the top of the list under feeding them.

Not that she would have forgotten that, Rainbow defensively added afterwards.

Her joke done and Scootaloo already in bed, Rainbow nudged Soarin to go and see if Scootaloo still wanted that bedtime story. Too tired to have any real response, Soarin went off to the filly's new room.

"Okay Scootaloo, just give me a second to catch my breath..."

Laying underneath her covers except for her head, which lay upon a blue pillow with a Daring Do plush next to her, Scootaloo shook her head with a smile, "It's okay. You don't have to read me a story."

Soarin blinked, confused by the flip-flop, "Wait, what?"

Scootaloo looked down at her sheets, which were co lored blue, red and yellow unsurprisingly, "I...I just wanted to get the chance to talk with you mister Soarin," Scootaloo looked towards the doorway, "Without m-Rainbow Dash."

"Well then lay it on me! What's on your mind?"

Scootaloo found herself having the same issue Rainbow Dash had been having earlier that day when they had a certain talk, "Rainbow Dash is going...well, you see...Rainbow Dash is..."

Soarin figured out what the reveal was before Scootaloo could finish, but he kept it to himself so that she could do so.

"She's going to adopt me," Scootaloo finally managed to finish, her voice a blend of sure and unsure.

Soarin leaned over the bed with half his body so he could pat Scootaloo on the head, "I know about that kiddo. Are you happy about that?"

Scootaloo nodded fervently, "Like totally, I couldn't think of anything cooler happening!" the emotion drained instantly after her words however, the filly's eyes trailing down to the sheets over her, "Except..."

"What is it?" Soarin asked, concerned that maybe something was wrong.

Scootaloo nervously looked at his chest, not being able to meet his eyes, "Well, Rainbow Dash and you are together..." the filly trailed off again before clearing her throat and asking, "D-does that mean you're going to be my dad?"

Soarin felt his eyes widen at that. He...did not have an answer as much as he would have liked to, "Uhhhh...hadn't really thought about that to be honest."

Scootaloo instantly took that as a no and tried to downplay the topic, "I mean, you don't have to be, since Rainbow Dash is like the best pony anypony could want to take care of them, but..."

Soarin lifted her head up with a hoof so he could look her in the eye, "What do you want Scootaloo?"

The eyes averted to the blankets again, "I want a family," she mumbled softly.

His mind made up, Soarin pulled the filly into an embrace, "Then I'll be here for you as long as you need me, okay?"

Scootaloo returned the hug and Soarin felt his chest grow the slightest bit wet, but the sigh of relief that followed made him sure that she wasn't upset in the slightest, but rather happy.

Soarin pulled back a little so he could look at her, "Now, how about you go to bed? I don't want Dashie to chew us out if you're tired tomorrow!"

"Thank you mister Soarin," Scootaloo said emotionally before leaning back in her bed, pulling her Daring Do plush to her chest.

Soarin smiled at her and ruffled her hair, "Goodnight kiddo."

And with that, Soarin left her room to go talk with Rainbow Dash and let the little filly sleep.

The light blue wonderbolt felt content. He hadn't thought all that long ago that something like this would ever happen, but then again he didn't care. He was happy, Rainbow Dash was happy, and so was this sweet filly.

Before Rainbow Dash could question him about his storytelling Soarin cut her off with a smile.

"Yes, I will go with you to your parent's house to broach the topic about the adoption."

Soarin felt himself be pulled into another hug, and he smiled to himself as he thought about his life.

This is how every pony's life should be.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you enjoyed, and I hope to hear back from you! Please review!_


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